MW: European stocks end higher as German, Chinese data soothe
European stocks climbed Tuesday as stronger-than-expected trade data from Germany assuaged some concerns about slowing global growth.
Investors also appeared to see encouraging signs in mixed trade data from China, whose slowing economy has sparked recent turmoil in global markets.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +1.18% rose 1.2% to close at 359.00, scoring its biggest gain since Friday.
The best performance among the major national indexes came from Germany’s DAX 30 DAX, +1.61% as it tacked on 1.6% to finish at 10,271.36. The move came after Germany’s statistics office said the country’s trade surplus reached a record in July, thanks to a rise in exports.
The trade surplus in Europe’s largest economy rose to €22.8 billion euros ($25.6 billion) in July, outstripping forecasts of €22.3 billion in a survey of economists by The Wall Street Journal.
European stocks then held to gains after Eurostat upwardly revised the eurozone’s second-quarter gross domestic product reading to 1.5% from an initial estimate of 1.2%, aided by a pickup in exports.
On other indexes, France’s CAC 30 PX1, +1.07% gained 1.1% to 4,598.26. In Paris trade, Alstom SA ALO, +1.40% shares were up 1.4%, holding to gains after the European Union Tuesday afternoon approved General Electric Co.’s GE, +3.48% $17 billion acquisition of Alstom SA’s power business.
In London, the FTSE 100 UKX, +1.18% picked up 1.2% to 6,146.10.
U.S. stocks, meanwhile, jumped, with Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.72% trading more than 200 points higher.
Among movers in Europe, shares of Germany’s Commerzbank AG CBK, +5.45% rose 6.8% after J.P. Morgan upgraded the lender to overweight from neutral.
The upgrade came as part of larger research report by J.P. Morgan that determined the region’s banks could be in for a capital shortfall of €26 billion euros if efforts by regulators to standardize the calculation of capital ratios goes into effect.
‘Brighter side’ of China’s data: Overnight, China data showed imports in August fell 13.8% in dollar terms from a year earlier, larger than the 8.1% decrease in July. Exports fell 5.5%, according to the General Administration of Customs.
“Last month, the disappointing exports data created a massive shift toward safe-haven plays so perhaps with the exports in ahead of expectations, the market is a touch more relaxed this time around. Traders seems to be looking on the brighter side of the Chinese trade data,” said Richard Perry, market analyst at Hantec Markets, in a note.
